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James Frey and his book, “A Million Little Pieces” has made up or embellished events and facts in a bestseller that was marketed as non-ficton/memoir.
And Oprah Winfrey has withdrawn her support for embattled memoirist James Frey after confronted him during a live taping of her show on Thursday, stating that she was “really embarrassed” by her initial decision to stand up for him in the face of allegations that he fabricated large chunks of his book.

However, after an in-depth investigation by the Smoking Gun Website called major events and details of the book into question, Frey’s claims of everything from the amount of time he spent behind bars to undergoing dental surgery without the benefit of Novocaine were discounted.
After finding himself at the center of a media firestorm, Frey began admitting in interviews that he had embellished elements of his tale for dramatic effect, but clung to his mantra that the book represented “the essential truth of my life.”

Winfrey telling Frey she felt he “betrayed millions of readers” with his lies and that she regretted calling into King’s show to express her support, especially after receiving harsh criticism from viewers disenchanted by her dismissive attitude toward Frey’s fabrications.
“I made a mistake and I left the impression that the truth does not matter,” Winfrey said. “And I am deeply sorry. Because that is not what I believe.”

In the face of Winfrey’s angry interrogation, Frey admitted that the Smoking Gun’s version of events “was pretty accurate,” and even said the site “did a good job” in exposing his lies.
He confessed that he did not spend 87 days behind jail as he claimed in the book, but only a few hours as the Smoking Gun had suggested, and he admitted that he did not remember whether he had actually undergone two root canals without pain medication as he described in a searing scene.

Maybe Frey is something of a victim of the publishing business. When he intially shopped and presented it to potential publishers as a novel (as ficion) a few years back, the book was rejected. But when he swtiched it to memoir, all of sudden he got a book deal, because it’s easier to sell books that can be marketed as ‘Based on a True Story’. Maybe that is at the root of what happened with Frey as much as anything involving his fictional non-ficiton.

Frey was a screen writer before penning these two memoirs so he is no stranger to fiction. Frey pitched “Pieces” as a novel and was turned down by 19 publishers before Nan Talese suggested he write it as a memoir.
Even though he lied, it didn’t change the way he thought about the book and the text itself, it changed the way he thought of the author but he still loved the book, couldn’t agree more.